Football Manager 2014 - Update 14.3.1 Update FEEDBACK THREAD

[Jimbokav1971]

After the Sunderland game. It was pretty obvious.

No. Not at all. I wasn't sure if it was after the Sunderland, (it was), or after the big Chelsea win in the league, (because you have not been great since then).

ajw10. Look, everything is too simplistic for you. For some reason you never seem to want to delve a little deeper and instead choose choose to mould the facts atround your feelings.

Let's have a look at your end of season in isolation shall we? (This is actually where I thought you had won the league because it's where your problems started. (Even before that, didn't you have to rely on an injury time goals from slothlike useless French bloke?)

Chelsea (N) 1-1 Draw. (won on pens)

Everton (A) 0-1 Loss.

Sunderland (A) 3-0 win.

PSG (H) 3-2 win.

Man Utd (A) 0-4 loss.

PSG (A) 0-0 Draw.

Spurs (H) 1-2 Loss.

Now if I'm honest, (looking at each of these games in isolation). only really the Man Utd game stands out and even then.... well they can be good on their day (as Arsenal can be equally bad).

I am anticupating that you are going to say that you won the league after the Sunderland game, but I think there were issues there before.

You only drew against Chelsea and that could have gone either way.

You then lost to Everton (A). That's not a huge surprise in itself.

You then snuck past Sunderland 3-2 in a game in which you should have performed much better.

You then only just snuck past PSG at (H).

Now do any of these results stand out? Well no not really. The Man Utd game a little, but after relatively poor performances going immediately before, maybe not so much. To be honest, you are complaining about these series of results, but you needed an injury time equaliser against Liverpool just to draw back in Jan, (and that followed up another draw I think wth someone that I can't see right at the top of the pic). You have had a few pens and og's and late goals recently.

You then followed that up with a Cup win over Swansea that you only secured in injury time and a loss to City.

Norwich held you, you snuck past Barca on away goals and Cardiff held you too.

You issues are not solely as a result of you winning the league in my opinion, (although I'm sure that has had an impact as you would expect).

I "think" that after hammering Chelsea in the League there was a sense of disappointment when you only snuck a win on pens. Then you failed to score against Everton and they beat you.

So that's 2 what I would call negative performances.

You followed that up by conceding 2 goals to Sunderland, (and needed an og to win). Shall we call that a 3rd poor performance? (Despite that you won the league).

Next up was PSG at home and while you won, you again conceded 2 goals, (and apologies for my eyesight but there seem to be some late goals there again to secure the win). You conceded 2 goals at home? Are you calling that a good performance?

So that's 4 below-par performances in a row, but you are oblivious to this. You have just won the Permier League and now have 2 Finals to look forward to. You just carry on with what you have been doing despite there being warning signs. Man Utd give you the lesson that you didn't learn as you narrowly squeeked by Chelsea on pens, that you didn't learn when Everton beat you. That you still didn't learn when you conceded 2 goals at home in 2 consecutive games to Sunderland and PSG.

NOW! Now your morale has also been hammered with a big defeat at the hands of rivals Utd and now you are deep in the poo and you are only start to realise there was a problem.

You fail to score against PSG, (another nail in your coffin).

And then Spurs give you another lesson, (your only goal coming from an OG).

meh! I know I'm wasting my time with you and yet I still post. Idiot!

[sinnott99]

Probably addressed earlier, but this thing about wages is really getting annoying.

Background: Took over Newcastle midway through season 3. They are currently pushing for playoff spots in the Championship. Lacking defenders, I had one week left of the January transfer window to find any. Two players looked decent enough, Tore Reginiussen and Tomasz Jodlowiec, both on rolling contracts in Norway and Poland respectively. Reginiussen is on a €4,800 per week deal, while the Pole is on 7k. After a few days both of them ends up as free agents and I try to sign Reginiussen first.

He demands €35,500 a week in wages and 7K appearance fee (more than he had per week in salary). Jodlowiec wanted €32K with 4,5k in appearances. Both of them demanded Key Player - which doesn't bother me a great deal since I'm short of CDs - however the wage demands are insane for players of this caliber. And surely something that needs addressing in future versions of FM. A player wanting to make double of what he already makes today is perfectly understandable, even triple. Ten times as much, not very likely.

They are not asking so much because they think they're good. It's more down to the fact that clubs in Norway and Poland would have very little finances and low reputations so they are not going to demand as much. While a big English side like Newcastle they are naturally going to ask for more money. Though that change is unrealistic the principal is right from SI just not the execution

[sinnott99]

That depends on who you are, who the player is and where he plays at the moment.

He might not want to join you unless he gets a massive wage to make it worthwhile.

THANKYOU! You are a moderator so i would expect you to understand. But soooo soooo sooo many people think that the amount you pay a new player is only dependant on the amount they are earning currently. This simply isn't the case. Theres your reputation, your clubs rep, the players rep, his agent. etc etc

[ajw10]

Can't believe I read all that but here we go.

Your response is full of inaccuracies. We actually beat PSG 5-2, not 3-2. The Sunderland win (whilst poor) was actually away.

Most of the non wins such as Cardiff away, Everton away and Norwich in the cup were as a result of me playing weakened sides. I had to play weakened sides due to fixture congestion.

so lets look at my form just before the United defeat. Poor draw at Cardiff (weakened side), comfortable 2-0 win at home to Hull, 0-0 draw at United in which I played for the 0-0 (due to a flaw with the game), 6-0 win against Chelsea, 5-0 win against Manchester United, 1-1 semi at Chelsea, won on pens, defeat at Everton (weakened side), 3-2 win AWAY to Sunderland (really poor performance but won the league), 5-2 at home to PSG (great performance, morale is at it's highest)

So the United game. 4-0 really flattered them and although I did rest a few with one eye on the PSG tie. We started brightly but then just gave up. League title had been won so there was nothing to play for. (issue which I've already covered). Morale drops completely, affecting the players who didn't even play (absurd)

We play well at PSG and they're lucky they didn't lose. Good performance, good result, not sure how that's a nail in the coffin at all?

Spurs didn't really give me a lesson. We were in control for most of the game but the intensity dropped towards the end.

Because you are so desperate to have a pop at me you've made some glaring errors. One is assuming that the other side scoring own goals means we are lucky. Now, there's an issue with own goals on the game. Lots of deflected shots are going down as own goals.

Your other mistake is assuming that getting draws against the top sides away from home is poor and as a result of my tactical deficiencies, when draws were what I was mostly aiming for.

So thanks for your ill thought out, mistake ridden post that offered no insight whatsoever. Big help.

[Dagenham_Dave]

0-0 draw at United in which I played for the 0-0 (due to a flaw with the game)

lol, wut?

What 'flaw' in the game requires you to play for a 0-0 draw? I'm genuinely curious as to what this pearler will be.

[RTHerringbone]

lol, wut?

What 'flaw' in the game requires you to play for a 0-0 draw? I'm genuinely curious as to what this pearler will be.

If you trawl through here, the inference is that there is an imbalance between Home and Away matches.....

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/391882-4-2-3-1-with-Arsenal.-Trying-to-get-the-best-out-of-Ramsey-and-Giroud

[Dagenham_Dave]

If you trawl through here, the inference is that there is an imbalance between Home and Away matches.....

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/391882-4-2-3-1-with-Arsenal.-Trying-to-get-the-best-out-of-Ramsey-and-Giroud

All I garner from that thread is that ajw doesn't know how to approach an away game at OT.

Ironically, in my current save I'm having more of a problem winning at home. I play a counter-attacking style and that suits away matches. I have a bit more bother setting up to win home games.

[ajw10]

lol, wut?

What 'flaw' in the game requires you to play for a 0-0 draw? I'm genuinely curious as to what this pearler will be.

I have no real need to go for the win away because it's far too easy to win at home

[HUNT3R]

Pretty sure its obvious that my main gripe is that morale drops so significantly due to these defeats. If the team take their foot off the pedal then should a defeat affect them as much?

Why are defeats affecting my whole squad rather than just the players who played?

What did you tell the players in the pre-match team talk? What did you say at half-time and full-time? Defeats would affect your squad, because your team lost. It affects the club. I might be wrong, but I think it affects the 11/14 that played in the match more though.

On a different note, the AI has access to the same squad management tools and team talks as we do, I believe. Monaco in my save won the league by 15 points the previous season. Based on ajw's reasoning, they would have fallen to pieces in the last few games. They won their last 13 games, including a cup quarter, semi and final. It's possible.

If you trawl through here, the inference is that there is an imbalance between Home and Away matches.....

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/391882-4-2-3-1-with-Arsenal.-Trying-to-get-the-best-out-of-Ramsey-and-Giroud

Inference, meaning there's evidence?

All I see is him not doing as well away from home. Hardly conclusive, yet in this thread it's stated as fact that there's a flaw with the game. My away record is currently better than my home record. Not sure how that fits the theory.

[Jimbokav1971]

Because you are so desperate to have a pop at me...

A pop at you?

You think that was a pop?

[RTHerringbone]

Inference, meaning there's evidence?

Synonyms of "inference" include conjecture and speculation

[HUNT3R]

Synonyms of "inference" include conjecture and speculation

Ah, the synonyms make a lot of sense!

Ajw10, keep in mind that there's another team to take into account. They'll be more cautious when you're at home and more adventurous when they're at home. Are you using the same tactic for both situations?

[Sussex Hammer]

I don't often watch real football matches with FM at the back of my mind but I did tonight with regard to the England game on TV and it's a world away from FM. FM is a simulation that does a reasonable job but watching the England game there are so many real life things that at the moment FM just can't simulate and therefore in my opinion no matter how many times someone tells you to apply real football logic to FM there are a host of reasons why you can't fully do that. My thoughts on what needs to improve (if it is possible to improve them) :

*** With the sliders I used to play with probably 80% of instructions on mixed unless you had a player who excelled or indeed didn't excel in something. Mixed I felt gave tactics a balance and allowed players to do things "mixed". I feel that with the tactic creator most of the roles and duties kind of force a player into a specific way of playing. Yes you can dabble with player instructions but I still feel that there isn't a "basic footballer option". Take centre forwards for example. There isn't really a role to place a "jack of all trades but master of none". You either have deep lying forwards, advanced forwards, specialist target men or false nines or a complete forward which basically is a "master of all category" and why is there no role for the most popular type of player in the last 30 years the Number 10???!!! and no it's not an Engache or a Teraquista, I should know I played the position for years!! Yes ok I guess you have Central midfielder and Central defender but on the whole it feels that your players either need to be pretty specialist or pretty poor, very little option for those in-between.

***Staying with roles the central midfield, defensive midfield, wide midfield and attacking midfield roles really need to be tweaked to allow more up and down movement than they do currently. Whether you think England played a 4231 with AML, AMR and AMC or ML, MR and MC this evening all of those players were forward when going forward or tracking back when defending. None of this FM style four players walking about up front when the team is trying to defend routine. Both Henderson and Gerrard were deep one minute and within 20 yards of the opponents goal next minute and Rooney, Wellbeck and Lallana the same, up and down all evening. You can't do that with an attacking midfield trio in FM. A supporting AMC may track back a little and defensive wingers are the best of a bad bunch but on the whole vertical and sideways movement are extremely poorly implemented. I am sure that this could be remedied with something as simple as a player instruction of "track back" or "stay forward".

***My bugbear - pressing - It's one extreme or another in FM and there need to be options. Something like a "hard press to win ball", or "half press then retreat" and the option to obviously press Barcelona style as a group. Even with pressing full on in FM it doesn't seem to have the desired effect.

***Passing options need to be increased. At times in FM you have an overwhelming sense if Deja vu where this move has been played 100 times before. In the first patch there were some fantastic cross field passes which somehow got lost in subsequent patches. Get rid of the back heels and flicks as they rarely happen IRL and aim for more quick one, twos or reverse passes or Gerrardesque 30 yard Hollywood balls. A bit more variety is needed I think.

***Finishing needs to be massively improved or at least shooting angles and decisions. Don't think I saw one winger tonight blast it into the side netting from a ridiculous angle and there weren't too many long shots. Diagonal shots in the game are popular because of the overpowered ball to the winger inside centre back and full back (didn't see many of those either) and in general shooting is predictable and mundane. And why do we have options to "shoot more" and "shoot less" but no option to "take more long shots" or "take less long shots"? Long shots have been an irritant for so many versions it's ridiculous that it hasn't been fixed and as a user we shouldn't have to use "work into the box" as a workaround because that changes style of play. Like tonight just have players putting a foot on it with an easy lay back or switch play across the pitch, again more variety needed.

Just a few of the things I noticed. FM is a great game, I wouldn't play it otherwise, but real life play needs to be implemented better whether by tinkering the ME or tinkering player intelligence.

[jason bhoys]

I don't often watch real football matches with FM at the back of my mind but I did tonight with regard to the England game on TV and it's a world away from FM. FM is a simulation that does a reasonable job but watching the England game there are so many real life things that at the moment FM just can't simulate and therefore in my opinion no matter how many times someone tells you to apply real football logic to FM there are a host of reasons why you can't fully do that. My thoughts on what needs to improve (if it is possible to improve them) :

*** With the sliders I used to play with probably 80% of instructions on mixed unless you had a player who excelled or indeed didn't excel in something. Mixed I felt gave tactics a balance and allowed players to do things "mixed". I feel that with the tactic creator most of the roles and duties kind of force a player into a specific way of playing. Yes you can dabble with player instructions but I still feel that there isn't a "basic footballer option". Take centre forwards for example. There isn't really a role to place a "jack of all trades but master of none". You either have deep lying forwards, advanced forwards, specialist target men or false nines or a complete forward which basically is a "master of all category" and why is there no role for the most popular type of player in the last 30 years the Number 10???!!! and no it's not an Engache or a Teraquista, I should know I played the position for years!! Yes ok I guess you have Central midfielder and Central defender but on the whole it feels that your players either need to be pretty specialist or pretty poor, very little option for those in-between.

***Staying with roles the central midfield, defensive midfield, wide midfield and attacking midfield roles really need to be tweaked to allow more up and down movement than they do currently. Whether you think England played a 4231 with AML, AMR and AMC or ML, MR and MC this evening all of those players were forward when going forward or tracking back when defending. None of this FM style four players walking about up front when the team is trying to defend routine. Both Henderson and Gerrard were deep one minute and within 20 yards of the opponents goal next minute and Rooney, Wellbeck and Lallana the same, up and down all evening. You can't do that with an attacking midfield trio in FM. A supporting AMC may track back a little and defensive wingers are the best of a bad bunch but on the whole vertical and sideways movement are extremely poorly implemented. I am sure that this could be remedied with something as simple as a player instruction of "track back" or "stay forward".

***My bugbear - pressing - It's one extreme or another in FM and there need to be options. Something like a "hard press to win ball", or "half press then retreat" and the option to obviously press Barcelona style as a group. Even with pressing full on in FM it doesn't seem to have the desired effect.

***Passing options need to be increased. At times in FM you have an overwhelming sense if Deja vu where this move has been played 100 times before. In the first patch there were some fantastic cross field passes which somehow got lost in subsequent patches. Get rid of the back heels and flicks as they rarely happen IRL and aim for more quick one, twos or reverse passes or Gerrardesque 30 yard Hollywood balls. A bit more variety is needed I think.

***Finishing needs to be massively improved or at least shooting angles and decisions. Don't think I saw one winger tonight blast it into the side netting from a ridiculous angle and there weren't too many long shots. Diagonal shots in the game are popular because of the overpowered ball to the winger inside centre back and full back (didn't see many of those either) and in general shooting is predictable and mundane. And why do we have options to "shoot more" and "shoot less" but no option to "take more long shots" or "take less long shots"? Long shots have been an irritant for so many versions it's ridiculous that it hasn't been fixed and as a user we shouldn't have to use "work into the box" as a workaround because that changes style of play. Like tonight just have players putting a foot on it with an easy lay back or switch play across the pitch, again more variety needed.

Just a few of the things I noticed. FM is a great game, I wouldn't play it otherwise, but real life play needs to be implemented better whether by tinkering the ME or tinkering player intelligence.

Give this man a job NOW

[Sussex Hammer]

Give this man a job NOW

Ha ha,,,, £17 K a year as a tester from home with regular Florida holidays I'd take it!!!!!

[Äktsjon Männ]

*** With the sliders I used to play with probably 80% of instructions on mixed unless you had a player who excelled or indeed didn't excel in something. Mixed I felt gave tactics a balance and allowed players to do things "mixed". I feel that with the tactic creator most of the roles and duties kind of force a player into a specific way of playing. Yes you can dabble with player instructions but I still feel that there isn't a "basic footballer option". Take centre forwards for example. There isn't really a role to place a "jack of all trades but master of none". You either have deep lying forwards, advanced forwards, specialist target men or false nines or a complete forward which basically is a "master of all category" and why is there no role for the most popular type of player in the last 30 years the Number 10???!!! and no it's not an Engache or a Teraquista, I should know I played the position for years!! Yes ok I guess you have Central midfielder and Central defender but on the whole it feels that your players either need to be pretty specialist or pretty poor, very little option for those in-between.

It's perfectly possible to have a centre forward with pretty much everything on mixed. Deep lying forward is pretty much that anyway depending on duty. With additional instructions you can easily change almost every role to be more generic rather than specific. Then you have philosophies as well. If you want everyone to do a bit of everything, play very fluid. What do you mean by number 10, what specific behavior can you not get from the current roles and customization?

***Staying with roles the central midfield, defensive midfield, wide midfield and attacking midfield roles really need to be tweaked to allow more up and down movement than they do currently. Whether you think England played a 4231 with AML, AMR and AMC or ML, MR and MC this evening all of those players were forward when going forward or tracking back when defending. None of this FM style four players walking about up front when the team is trying to defend routine. Both Henderson and Gerrard were deep one minute and within 20 yards of the opponents goal next minute and Rooney, Wellbeck and Lallana the same, up and down all evening. You can't do that with an attacking midfield trio in FM. A supporting AMC may track back a little and defensive wingers are the best of a bad bunch but on the whole vertical and sideways movement are extremely poorly implemented. I am sure that this could be remedied with something as simple as a player instruction of "track back" or "stay forward".

If you want attacking wingers/midfielders who track back, play them in the ML/MC/MR strata with attacking instructions. There really is nothing attacking wise that players in that strata cannot do. The AM strata is for specialist players who you use as an outlet for quick forward passes. Granted, there is a research/perception issue which means that too many players are natural AML/R but nowhere near as competent in ML/R. I hope this gets a bit of attention for fm15.

***My bugbear - pressing - It's one extreme or another in FM and there need to be options. Something like a "hard press to win ball", or "half press then retreat" and the option to obviously press Barcelona style as a group. Even with pressing full on in FM it doesn't seem to have the desired effect.

Agreed. Pressing as a team is still non existent, it's completely trigger based and proper high press isn't represented at all.

And why do we have options to "shoot more" and "shoot less" but no option to "take more long shots" or "take less long shots"? Long shots have been an irritant for so many versions it's ridiculous that it hasn't been fixed and as a user we shouldn't have to use "work into the box" as a workaround because that changes style of play. Like tonight just have players putting a foot on it with an easy lay back or switch play across the pitch, again more variety needed.

Shoot more/less is more/less long shots. It's still the same option, just phrased differently. Work ball in the box does not change style of play. It's an instruction that sets every player on 'long shots rarely' in old slider terms. That's all it does.

[themadsheep2001]

Number 10???!!! and no it's not an Engache or a Teraquista, I should know I played the position for years!! Yes ok I guess you have Central midfielder and Central defender but on the whole it feels that your players either need to be pretty specialist or pretty poor, very little option for those in-between

Actually they are both types of number 10s (of which there are differing variations, as the number 10 is just a general term). You've got pretty much every combination of "10" available to you.

[Adzke]

Is there any way to make the search function (the ctrl+f one) stop suggesting players, clubs etc. with a "similar" spelling? It's driving my mad I can't search for a specific player without getting hundreds of suggestions I didn't ask for.

[eldiablanca]

After international match - International duty ends

then - remove all players > cannot remove so close to fixture

once international duty has ended you should be able to remove all players from national squad, or else the duty hasn't really ended!

You have to wait one or two clicks of continue to remove them. Not a big deal but a little silly

[Sussex Hammer]

Actually they are both types of number 10s (of which there are differing variations, as the number 10 is just a general term). You've got pretty much every combination of "10" available to you.

Still not convinced that there is a Rooney style No 10, hard working, tracking back, getting challenges in. An Engache stays pretty much in the same position, Teraquista doesn't defend. There maybe an option to tinker with an AM's instructions I'll probably look into that.

[Jimbokav1971]

Still not convinced that there is a Rooney style No 10, hard working, tracking back, getting challenges in. An Engache stays pretty much in the same position, Teraquista doesn't defend. There maybe an option to tinker with an AM's instructions I'll probably look into that.

This.

[HUNT3R]

Still not convinced that there is a Rooney style No 10, hard working, tracking back, getting challenges in. An Engache stays pretty much in the same position, Teraquista doesn't defend. There maybe an option to tinker with an AM's instructions I'll probably look into that.

There are more options than just an Enganche and a Trequartista, plus you can add player instructions to modify each role.

[themadsheep2001]

Still not convinced that there is a Rooney style No 10, hard working, tracking back, getting challenges in. An Engache stays pretty much in the same position, Teraquista doesn't defend. There maybe an option to tinker with an AM's instructions I'll probably look into that.

Shadow striker. or as Jimbo says, tinker.

Rooney isnt a 10 either, more of a 9 and a half. Hence Shadow striker.

[Sussex Hammer]

Shadow striker. or as Jimbo says, tinker.

Rooney isnt a 10 either, more of a 9 and a half. Hence Shadow striker.

9 and 3 quarters maybe!! How do you get these guys to track back though? I want my Attacking Midfielder to track back and be defending on the edge of my penalty area if required. As much as I love the SS role he stays up top and that's what I was saying above. With a 4231 for instance with the AML, AMC, AMR they all stay far to high and if you play a striker quite often you have four players meandering about up front whilst the opposition attacks. Yes I know you can use the ML, MR slots and you can man mark specific players but that's not the point they should have more options to make these players defend if you want them to. If you can make ML/MR/MC more attacking you should be able to make AMR/AMC/AML more defensive.

[Jimbokav1971]

How do you get these guys to track back though?

Just start with an AP(s) and go from there. My issue isn't his tracking back at all. If anything he works too hard when we don't have the ball.

The SS is the teams main goalscoring threat. How hard do you want him to work? If you want him to do more without the ball then perhaps you don't want a SS at all.

What sort of role does your preferred player suit most?

Is it possible that you can get the rest of the team to do more and let him just find space for when you do win the ball back?

[Overmars]

Pretty sure its obvious that my main gripe is that morale drops so significantly due to these defeats. If the team take their foot off the pedal then should a defeat affect them as much?

Why are defeats affecting my whole squad rather than just the players who played?

Why can't I adjust my team talks after the league win? Why can't I tell my players that they are playing for a cup final place? Why can't I challenge Giroud to carry on scoring goals so he can win the golden boot? More to the point, why isn't Giroud motivated by the prospect of winning it?

It's all well and good using real life examples but those managers can adjust the way they talk to the team. I cannot.

Also, why does it only affect the champions? Chelsea are comfortably 2nd yet they keep winning. What's their incentive? Why hasn't their foot come off of the gas?

It's a good point. Morale is such a fickle thing in this game. I wouldn't care so much, but once your morale hits the red zone, you have zero chance of winning for a while. It's just one defender mistake after another, and you feel compelled to run to the nearest betting shop to bet against your team.

[HUNT3R]

It's a good point. Morale is such a fickle thing in this game. I wouldn't care so much, but once your morale hits the red zone, you have zero chance of winning for a while. It's just one defender mistake after another, and you feel compelled to run to the nearest betting shop to bet against your team.

It's your job as manager to do your best NOT to let morale drop into "the red zone" in the first place. Teams and players do better when they have (some) confidence.

[Jimbokav1971]

If Manager XXXX can manage morale, why can't Manager YYYY.

Does it mean that the game is broken or does it mean that Manager XXXX is doing things differently to Manager YYYY?

[eldiablanca]

In Scotland League 2 teams always accept £0 for their players with < 6 months on contract.

No matter I am 2nd in league and top team has a player with 20 goals in 21 games, I bid £0, accepted.

They would wait until summer not lose to rival in jan.

Any player, always accepted

sortitoutsi

[Sussex Hammer]

Just start with an AP(s) and go from there. My issue isn't his tracking back at all. If anything he works too hard when we don't have the ball.

The SS is the teams main goalscoring threat. How hard do you want him to work? If you want him to do more without the ball then perhaps you don't want a SS at all.

What sort of role does your preferred player suit most?

Is it possible that you can get the rest of the team to do more and let him just find space for when you do win the ball back?

Love to know how you guys get the ML and MR to attack well though. I find that without an attack duty they just don't get forward enough and it's not the done thing it seems to have two attack duties. Plus I never seem to have any luck with the "get further forward" shout it seems very ineffective for me.

[RTHerringbone]

Love to know how you guys get the ML and MR to attack well though. I find that without an attack duty they just don't get forward enough and it's not the done thing it seems to have two attack duties. Plus I never seem to have any luck with the "get further forward" shout it seems very ineffective for me.

Ignore the "done thing", and experiment for yourself. Perfectly possible to balance two support duties behind two attacks, or vice versa.

[ringwoodrob]

Try training the attacking midfields "to come deep to get the ball",or just add in the IGE,will take a few matches maybe for them to act,mine defend when we are pushed back but of course you can still get caught on the counter!,also tight defending ect ,the only ones I have in my team who don't do this are the 2 strikers,and they all hassle!(spelling)

[Overmars]

If Manager XXXX can manage morale, why can't Manager YYYY.

Does it mean that the game is broken or does it mean that Manager XXXX is doing things differently to Manager YYYY?

A lot of things can happen to drop morale that even the most conscientious human manager might not be able to stop. What if your team cohesion or tactical fluidity is still building? What if your team is only an average skilled side in your league? What if you lose some matches due to random bad luck? What if as that bad luck happens, you are scheduled to play the best teams in the league?

So morale will crash from time to time, and that's fine. I will accept the losing streaks and try to work out of them. The problem is that once the losing begins, the game starts kicking you when you're down, and you can't stop it. I don't want to go undefeated. I want to avoid 10 match losing streaks. The best suggestion I have seen is to schedule easy friendlies mid-season, but how realistic is that anyway? Let's say Everton loses three matches in a row, they don't go scheduling matches against non-league teams to snap out of it. They rely on the fact that their team is full of professionals who will continue to try their hardest to win matches, and not fold like a cheap suit after one in-game mistake.

So my suggestion for the game is to try to keep the morale crashes from being so crippling. Give us a better chance to get out of it before it destroys a season. If we are a 50 point per season type of team, don't turn us into a 30 point per season type of team just based on morale.

[HUNT3R]

A lot of things can happen to drop morale that even the most conscientious human manager might not be able to stop. What if your team cohesion or tactical fluidity is still building? What if your team is only an average skilled side in your league? What if you lose some matches due to random bad luck? What if as that bad luck happens, you are scheduled to play the best teams in the league?

Then you tell your players that! Tell them they did fine, but they were unlucky. If they're average, then don't expect to win every game, but give them the confidence to go out and win some of them!

[King Costly]

Has anybody been able to get defenders to not act like complete morons when it comes to crosses? Full-backs seem like they enjoy wingers whipping balls in. Then you have central defenders with 18+ marking and positioning who don't get anywhere near attackers. It's ridiculous. Is this a tactical problem or an ME thing?

[King Costly]

Come on now, really? Is there any point playing this game any more?

[HUNT3R]

I haven't seen any team take a bashing like that at corners in just one game. Time for some match prep training on def. set pieces, wouldn't you say?

If you take a look, they usually have 3 attacking players in the 6 yard area against your 2 defenders. Get someone to at least mark the 6 yard area so that you have another body in there.

[Jimbokav1971]

The problem is that once the losing begins, the game starts kicking you when you're down, and you can't stop it.

If that's the case, then perhaps you could explain why, when I have lost games, on 15 of the last 16 occasions I have not lost the next game.

Why is the game not kicking me?

Why is it just you getting kicked?

11/4/2029. Lost to AC Milan. (Drew the next game).

13/5/2029. Lost to Lazio. (Won the next game).

31/8/2029. Lost to PSG. (Won the next game).

20/10/2029. Lost to Juve. (Won next game).

5/12/2029. Lost to Sampdoria. (Won next game).

16/12/2029. Lost to Inter. (Won next game).

26/2/2030. Lost to SLB (Benfica?). (Drew next game).

28/4/2030. Lost to Sampdoria. (Won next game).

23/11/2030. Lost to Latina. (Won next game).

11/12/2030. Lost to Man Utd. (Won next game).

11/1/2031. Lost to Lazio. (Won next game).

18/1/2031. Lost to Genoa. (Won next game).

28/1/2931. Lost to AC Milan. This was a HUGE loss as we lost 7-2 and they overturned a 3-0 defecit from the 1st leg. (We lost the next game).

1/2/2031. Lost to Juve. (Won the next game).

9/5/2031. Lost to Torino. (Won the next game).

23/8/2031. Lost to Inter. (Won the next game).

So how does that work then?

[Jimbokav1971]

Come on now, really? Is there any point playing this game any more?

At the risk of being rude, is there anything that you take responsibilty for?

I have done this defensive corner rubbish to death and it's really very basic management that makes you defend at least reasonably well at corners. Upload your save and let me have a look and I will tell you what is happening and why. I am telling you that this is down to you. Nobody else. You. When the last wave of "it's impossible to defend from corners" was in full voice I had a little look at it and almost went a whole season without conceding one, (and then conceded 2 in consecutive games right at the end of the season). I think I went 170+ corners without conceding from one. I wasn't a big club. I was San Marino playing in Serie A (for I think only the 3rd season).

As I keep saying to others.... if I can do it, then why can't you?

Seriously? If I win it's down to me. If I draw it's down to me. unfortunately, if I lose, it's also down to me. (And I have lost A LOT).

It's exactly the same with you. When you won the Championship with Reading and the Conference Playoffs with Hereford, well done, it was down to you.

But when you lost the Chinese FA Cup, the Cofidis Cup, and the Jupiler Pro league, unfortunately this was also down to you. Not the cheating AI. You.

[Overmars]

If that's the case, then perhaps you could explain why, when I have lost games, on 15 of the last 16 occasions I have not lost the next game.

Why is the game not kicking me?

Why is it just you getting kicked?

Those aren't losing streaks. I mean once you lose 3 or more matches, the game starts to bounce in some unlucky goals against you, bounce your would-be goals off the woodwork, and an unrealistic snowball effect occurs.

[King Costly]

At the risk of being rude, is there anything that you take responsibilty for?

I have done this defensive corner rubbish to death and it's really very basic management that makes you defend at least reasonably well at corners. Upload your save and let me have a look and I will tell you what is happening and why. I am telling you that this is down to you. Nobody else. You. When the last wave of "it's impossible to defend from corners" was in full voice I had a little look at it and almost went a whole season without conceding one, (and then conceded 2 in consecutive games right at the end of the season). I think I went 170+ corners without conceding from one. I wasn't a big club. I was San Marino playing in Serie A (for I think only the 3rd season).

As I keep saying to others.... if I can do it, then why can't you?

Seriously? If I win it's down to me. If I draw it's down to me. unfortunately, if I lose, it's also down to me. (And I have lost A LOT).

It's exactly the same with you. When you won the Championship with Reading and the Conference Playoffs with Hereford, well done, it was down to you.

But when you lost the Chinese FA Cup, the Cofidis Cup, and the Jupiler Pro league, unfortunately this was also down to you. Not the cheating AI. You.

Of course I do take responsibility. I can't get my teams to defend and keep clean sheets. That has to be down to me and it's something I'm working on (to no avail I might add). I'm by far the best Football Manager player ever.

It's not as if I've been conceding loads from corners. I can't remember the last one before the Dortmund game, that's why it was so frustrating. Maybe I did come on here too soon after when I was still angry but there's still something not right about set-pieces and the match engine as a whole in my opinion.

[Jimbokav1971]

Those aren't losing streaks. I mean once you lose 3 or more matches, the game starts to bounce in some unlucky goals against you, bounce your would-be goals off the woodwork, and an unrealistic snowball effect occurs.

Well when does a run of losing games become a streak?

Is it 2 games?

3?

You tell me and I will go back and look.

The last 5 times I lost 2 in a row, I won the next game on 3 occasions and lost on 2 occasions.

The last 4 times I lost 3 in a row I won 2, drew 1 and lost 1 of the next games.

The last time I lost 4 games in a row I won the next game.

The above figures are accurate and take me back to 2024 and they are cumulative meaning that the 4 game loss figures are included in the 3 game loss streak and the 2 game loss streak.

What you are saying is just untrue. Of course morale has an impact, and losing puts a dent in that, but it is manageable. The things you do and say, (and possibly don't do and don't say), are significant.

[wwfan]

Malevolent morale seems to be the meme of the month. From my perspective, if it were any easier to manage morale, I'd find FM far too easy. It's not difficult to stop morale becoming low (and you really, really don't need to play friendly matches to do this).

You just need to tailor your man-management around the context of matches and the personality of your squad. There's no hard and fast answer how to do this, because the context and personality change from game to game and user to user. It's something people need to work out within their own game environment.

[scott MUFC]

First team players asking why I turned down bids, why is there no option to say, because you are a first team player?

Penalties from nothing on set pieces? and players shooting when it is better to cross, inside forwards cutting inside and missing by a mile far too often as well, not narrowly wide, just looks stupid, not even rushed shots. same with most direct free kick, they seem to end up going 6-7 yards wide for the majority, and it is very rare one goes in, looks silly when RVP or a rooney slices a free kick stupidly wide often

oh and players, one minute pinging together a bunch of one touch passes, the next minute they stand there or forget how to pass. again too extreme.

[Atytse]

Are we going to still see a patch update before next version or is this it?

[HUNT3R]

This is it. There are no plans for any more updates.

[allyc31]

Anybody raised any issues regarding Physio/Head Physio wages? Club balance is £11 million, Porjected is 34, i can offer >8k wages for every other job role except Physio which tops off at 2500.

Which is annoying.

[milnerpoint]

Anybody raised any issues regarding Physio/Head Physio wages? Club balance is £11 million, Porjected is 34, i can offer >8k wages for every other job role except Physio which tops off at 2500.

Which is annoying.

Have you asked your board to increase the staff wages?

[allyc31]

Have you asked your board to increase the staff wages?

Yep. Went from £2500 to a massive £2900.

All the while i can offer my Ass Man 33k per week!

[allyc31]

Almost like assistant manager is a more important job

Wow. Super helpful.

Even if it is the more important job (which i think is debatable as, in the context of my club, all my physios are rubbish), i don't think there should be that much of a disparity.

However, if you would prefer, i can pay my chief scout 14k and regular scouts 13k